As I mentioned in yesterday’s return to blogging about snowboarding, I am heading to Whistler for a few days next week. With a baby due in January, I knew my annual week-long trip to Whistler to ride was not going to happen. I had resigned myself to skipping this year entirely, but some vacation days to burn and a fair bit of snow recently have changed my mind. As a result, I’m heading up Sunday (the 27th). The plan is to ride two days, and come back Wednesday.

I know conditions can’t possibly be like what I experienced in 2010, but with up to 80 centimetres scheduled to arrive by Tuesday, I’m hoping to encounter some pretty good early season conditions. Whistler only has a couple of chairs operating right now (green chair, red chair), but with Blackcomb opening on the 24th and a big dump of snow on the way, I’m hoping available terrain will expand greatly by the time I get on the hill on the 28th.

Regardless, it will be fun.

It’s been more than a year since anything has been posted at Highly Obsessed. And even when we did post some stuff last year, it didn’t last long. It’s been a struggle the past couple of years.

So, what happened? It’s not like we enjoy snowboarding less than we used to. Personally, I found myself riding fewer total days; instead of heading to Blue Mountain or Mt. St. Louis Moonstone for a few day trips, I was saving it for trips to real mountains like Whistler or Jay Peak or Tremblant. So I was only riding maybe a dozen days a year. I guess this made me feel like I wasn’t much of an authority on snowboarding anymore.

And in a way, I don’t think it’s going to get any easier. We are going to have a baby just as snowboarding season gets into full swing. My job is never slow, and I do a fair bit of travel is involved. I also like to spend time working out, playing video games, and reading. I also play hockey and ultimate frisbee. So there never seems to be enough time in the day already.

But with all that said, a funny thing has been happening. This blog refuses to die, and I find it both interesting and inspiring. It gets all sorts of traffic, regardless of season. People still email me constantly with questions, contests and news. I still get the occasional ACL tear inquiry (and I’ve had laser eye surgery, another topic which seems to garner tons of questions, so I’m happy to answer those, too).

So I started to think: do I really need to be on the mountain 100 days a year to maintain an interesting snowboarding blog? I don’t think so. And do I still love to snowboard? Hell yes. So I’ve decided to fire up the blog again, and I’m really looking forward to it.

The timing is right, too. A week today, I will leave for a quick, four-day, pre-baby trip to Whistler. I didn’t want to miss out on Whistler this year, and they’re getting dumps of snow regularly right now. But all that is for my next post.

Adam

(Image courtesy of Tommy Ironic)

So says Holiday Valley’s Pat Morgan, who is organizing a new contest series known as the Eastern Snowboard League. It’s a three-event series that will take place at Holiday Valley in Western New York, Big Boulder Park in Pennsylvania and 7-Springs (also in Pennsylvania). ESPN’s interview with Morgan is here.

Personally I think it’s a great idea. It channels the ‘us vs. them’ mentality that I think exists a bit with riders repping small hills vs. west coast folks. I’d encourage them to have a look at expanding this north of the border if it takes off.

I find there’s a similar parallel with bikes; look back 10 years, and no-one wore helmets. Now it’s perfectly acceptable and normal.

But anyway. I just came across a really interesting report from the Canadian Ski Council. In it, the Council reports that helmet usage – especially among youth – is up significantly over the past four years.

According to the report:

“… usage has increased from 67% of all skiers and riders in 2006 to 71% in 2010. This is significantly higher than in the US, where reports found that 57% of skiers and riders wore helmets in 2010.”

The report has a couple of really interesting caveats, though. For example, usage in the 35-44 age bracket did not increase. Moreover, Ontario and British Columbia have the dubious honour of least usage, with 67% and 66% usage respectively. The keener province? New Brunswick, with 95% usage. Wow.

• Fernie
• Nakiska
• Kimberley
• Mont Tremblant
• Mont Sutton
• Whistler Blackcomb

I need to ride out in the alps. The setup looks a lot more, um, wide open than a typical north American resort.

Whistler Blackcomb Parks 2011 Update from Lucas Ouellette on Vimeo.

This trip was largely spent in England, split between London and Newcastle (and several small towns in between. Message to England: for all its faults, you do not know how lucky you are to have a train system like yours). Newcastle is an interesting place because it’s a university party town and one of England’s most popular places to hold stag parties. As such, it’s not very pretentious. And as a result, I typically wear t-shirts and jeans to bars, whereas I would usually wear something a bit, er, “dressier” to a bar in London, I suppose.

Anyway, I happened to wear a Burton t-shirt to one particular Newcastle bar, which led to one of the staff approaching me to talk about snowboarding. After listening to him talk about the lack of hills or stores in the UK, I realized that, in a lot of ways, I was actually lucky to live in Ontario. I mean, at least I could hit up Blue Mountain and ride on actual snow, even while complaining all the while that it was too icy and the runs were too short. And in most Canadian towns, there’s some kind of hill and some kind of snowboarding store. But in the UK, there’s pretty much nowhere to ride the natural stuff, and I got the impression there were even fewer stores. To ride, you either have to hit dry slopes or indoor slopes. But actual snow on actual hills? Forget it.

So, score one for Ontario residents like me. At least we can hit the wet stuff. However, people like my friend at the bar (and other Newcastle bloggers) DO have two distinct advantages, I think:

• They can hit epic hills in only a matter of hours. France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria – you name it, you can likely get a cheap flight there from the UK. And the flight is guaranteed to be short. Whistler, on the other hand, is a five-hour flight and a subsequent two-hour drive from Toronto.
• They are better park riders. Although I’ve never actually visited one, I’m pretty sure indoor and synthetic slopes aren’t the best for freeriding. As a result, I get the impression most UK riders hit the park – a lot. That’s one thing I don’t spend a lot of time doing, so I’m sure my ass would be owned in the park.

So while I grouse constantly about only having 750 feet of vertical here in Ontario, I suppose I can take solace in the fact that we’ve actually got snow (most of the time). Now if I can only do something about the quality of the football over here; Major League Soccer has nothing on the Permiership, that’s for sure.

For fun, here’s a photo from St. James’s Park, where Newcastle’s Premier League team plays.

It’s started: over 20cm of snow has blanketed Banff-Lake Louise, with more forecasted. via @SkiBig3com

For anyone interested.. Whistler has announced opening day will be November 25.

A new 2500′ run, improved night skiing, a faster, better lift and more snowmaking are among the improvements the resort will be rolling out this year.

All in, the resort spent more than $4 million. You can read more details about the upgrades here.

If you live in southern Ontario and you haven’t checked out Holiday Valley, you really owe it to yourself to visit at least once. Personally, I equate the resort with Ontario’s Blue Mountain, but with better facilities, much better runs, and fewer lines. While both are similar in vertical, hence I draw the equation, Holiday Valley is a lot more fun to ride.

You can find more information on Holiday Valley, including a write-up of my visit, here.